A Rock-A-Bye Baby Shower

It was a beautiful day for a baby shower and anyone who knows me, knows I love to throw a party.  The theme for this party was Rock-A-Bye Baby shower for my rock star mommy-to-be Corinne.  Thanks For sharing your day with us!
I decided to do an ice cream bar as far as food goes, but I can't pass up making some extra treats.  My co-hostess, Bekkie brought some yummy pin wheels, veggie tray and punch.  To die for!  I made Buckeye truffles for party favors, and a few, lets just call them tarts.  I also came across a recipe for vanilla wafers that I can pass along to all of you.
As far as decorations go I made some tissue paper pom poms, balloons, onesie banner, and paper garland.  The cut outs are from this awesome vendor on etsy.com, PrintasticDesign.  Great prices and easy to work with.  Well, I think I covered the most of it, so on to the good stuff, recipes and pictures.

I love filo dough cups. You can fill them up with just about anything.  You can buy the pre-made filo cups or make them yourself.  I make them myself because its cheaper and I get more my buck.

Filo Cups

1 roll filo dough
1/2 c. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a mini cupcake pan.  Two sheets at a time brush dough evenly with butter.  Then place two more sheets of dough on top of that and repeat until you have six sheets total.  Cut into squares, about 2 inch by 2.  I use a pizza cutter.  Press them down into mini cupcake pans and bake for 5-8 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool before filling the cups.

Strawberry Butter Cream

1 c. diced strawberries
1 c. butter, room temperature
3 c. powder sugar
3 Tbs. creamer, I used Baileys Almond Toffee

Beat butter for about 3 minutes or until smooth.  Beat in powder sugar one cup at a time.  Add in creamer and then strawberries.  Once the butter cream is well mixed, pipe into filo cups.  As a garnish I added kiwi and drizzled chocolate on top.

Lemon Cream Filling

8 oz. cream cheese, soften
1 tub cool whip, thawed
1 pkg. Tastefully Simple Lemonade Fruit dip
fresh cherries

Beat together the above ingredients and pipe into filo cups.  Top of with a fresh cherry and viola!

Chocolate/ Peanut Butter Filling

1 pkg. milk chocolate chips
1 c. crunchy peanut butter
fresh cherries

In a double boiler melt chocolate chips and peanut butter until smooth.  Spoon evenly into filo cups and top off with a cherry.  Place in fridge or freezer until hardened.

For wafers visit: http://bakingbites.com/2008/07/mini-vanilla-wafer-cookies/

For Buckeye Truffles visit: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/12/chubby-hubby-buckeye-peanut-butter.html

Twice Baked Potato Burrito

I went to the International Food Show in Chicago this weekend and it was awesome.  I got a lot of good ideas and was inspired as well. So this week I went a little crazy and combined two of my husbands favorite dishes that I make, mashed potatoes and burritos!  This is a mans, mans dinner and oh so good.  I mean who can go wrong with meat and potatoes...oh , and did I mention Bacon!  Enjoy!

Twice Baked Potato Burrito

8 russet potatoes
2-3 Tbs olive oil
1 lb ground beef
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1/2 water
2 Tbs bold taco seasoning, I use Penzies spices
16 oz refried beans

-salsa ingredients-
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
5 campari tomatoes, chopped
1/2 c. corn
1/2 c. black beans
4 pieces bacon, cooked and chopped

-potato ingredients-
1/3 c. heavy whipping cream
1/2 c. sour cream
2 Tbs butter
4 pieces bacon, cooked and chopped
1 c. 4 blend Mexican shredded cheese

Sour cream and cheese for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Scrub the potatoes and pierce them with a fork.  Then place them on a  baking sheet and bake for 1 hour.

 Meanwhile, cook the bacon, set aside.  In a large skillet, brown ground beef with olive oil, onion, and garlic.  Once the beef is prepared, add water and seasoning and saute for about 3 minutes or until mixture thickens. Add refried beans and stir until well combined.  Set aside.

Begin making your salsa.  In a small bowl combined the salsa ingredients, then set aside.

When the potatoes and done, pull them out of the oven and let cool for about ten minutes.  Then, cut potatoes length wise and scoop out the meat of the potatoes into a medium size bowl.  With a hand mixer, combined potato meat, whipping cream, sour cream and butter.  Add in bacon and cheese and mix well with a spoon.  Scoop an even amount of mashed potatoes back into the potato skins.  Pour burrito mixture over top of potatoes, top with cheese and bake for an additional 15 minutes.  When the potatoes and finished, top of with salsa, sour cream and cheese.

Grilling Out

When spring comes around, so does my grill.  In our household, during the spring and summer when host a lot of BBQ's and bonfires. This past weekend we decided to kick off the first bonfire of the year and have a tree cut down that has only been requested upon for the two years that we have lived in our house. Anyway, being it Michigan, the weather decided not to hold out for us.  Of course for two weeks its been at least 70 degrees and sunny and the first weekend I choose to kick of the season, it's 48 degrees and raining and then to boot snowing on Mothers Day.  Needless to say, now bonfire and the tree is still standing.  Anyway, I had a fridge full of food and beverages and I wasn't going to let it go to waste.  So we moved the party inside and still had a great time and surprise, no left overs so it must have been good.  I was still able to grill the hot dogs between rain, and then I made Loaded Potato Salad, BLT Pasta Salad, Watermelon and then because I had all the ingredients for S'more's, that I couldn't let it go to waste,  I made came up with a S'more Bar recipe n the spot.  That lasted for about ten minutes.  Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Loaded Potato Salad

5 lb russet potatoes or red skin
10 pieces of bacon, cooked and chopped
1 c. green onion, chopped
3 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
1 1/4 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. spicy brown mustard
1/2 c. sour cream
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
pepper for taste
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

If you're using russet potatoes, peel them and then dice into cubes.  If you're using red skin potatoes, clean them up and leave the skins on and then dice them into cubes.  I usually use red skin potatoes, but I didn't have them this time around.  Put diced potatoes into a large pot of water and boil them until a knife can easily run through them.  Meanwhile, prepare bacon, onion and eggs.  When the potatoes are done cooking, drain them and place them in a large bowl. Add all other ingredients, minus the cheese and mix till well blended.  Now you need to taste it, because everybody is different and sometimes the salad needs a little more of something.  Once you have your salad to the taste you want, cover and let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Then add in the cheese, this way the cheese won't be all melted.  Enjoy!

BLT Pasta Salad

16 oz radiatore pasta
1 c cherry tomatoes, sliced
1/2 c. red onion, chopped
1 c. roman lettuce, chopped
8-10 pieces of bacon, cooked and chopped
2 c. swiss cheese, shredded
16 oz ranch dressing

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, prepare veggies and bacon.  When the pasta is finished, drain and rinse pasta under cold water. Put all ingredients into a large bowl and mix until they are well incorporated.  Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

S'more Bars

1/2 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
2 c. flour
24 marshmallows
4 Hersey bars
3-4 gram crackers, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees   In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and sugars.  Add in the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla.  Once this is well blended, add in baking soda and flour until well incorporated.  In a greased 8x11 glass pan, press half for the cookie dough mixture into bottom of pan. Then space out marshmallows evenly over cookie dough.  Place the chocolate on top of the marshmallows.  With the remaining cookie dough, add in to crushed gram crackers.  Sprinkle cookie dough and gram cracker mixture evenly over the chocolate bars.  Bake for 20-25 minute or until golden brown on the bottom. Now this is a very sticky dessert, so you need to scoop it out, verses cutting into squares.  Want something to add on top?  Ice cream and chocolate syrup!

Granola Bars

I love to bake, my love for cooking first started with baking cookies with my mom.  Over time it has expanded out and I started experimenting with all kinds of food. So its no surprise that I would even dabble in making granola bar, or how my 3 year old would call them, "noga" bars.  I love it when she says that, and she loves her "noga" bars.  

My sister-in-law asked me recently if I had a good recipe for protein bars, because she is trying to save some money, her hubby is a big eater.  I call him a foodie!  Anyway, so I looked over my recipes and threw some stuff together to create, "noga" / protien bars.

Granola Bars

2 c oats

1 c wheat flour

1/2 c wheat germ

1/2 c brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 c canola oil

2 egg whites

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 c peanut butter

3/4 c honey

1/2c  raisins

1/2 c cut chopped nuts, of your choosing

1/2 c butterscotch chips

1/2 c semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.  In a large bowl stir together oats, flour, wheat germ, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Next, add in the canola oil, egg whites, and vanilla.  Stir until completely incorporated.  Then, add peanut butter and honey and sir until well blended.  Finally, sir in the rest of your extras.  Go bananas and add what every you like.  These, "extras",  are just what I had laying around.  I'm always adding new things to my granola bars, for example dries fruit.  Just have fun with it!  Now, press the mixture into your prepared pan and bake for 24-28 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.  Let you granola bars cool completely before cutting them into slices and removing from the pan.  Makes about 16.

Before baking

After baking

  

Spicy Italian Sausage Corn Soup and Banana Monster Cookies

So I had bananas that needed to be used up and I really didn't want to make muffins or bread out of them.  I've never made my own recipe for cookies and today sounded like a good day to start.  I have a million things in my baking cupboard, so I just started grabbing stuff and then added more and more treats to the mix.  Then I'm thinking that these cookies are going to be insane.  That's when I decided to create my own style of Monster Cookies.
I love making soups and I was going to make a simple corn chowder, but of course I spotted the Italian sausage in the freezer and then the peppers in the fridge, that needed to be used up as well and then my counter kind of exploded with ingredients.   Again, like the Monster Cookies, I just kind of went nuts.  It's going to be one of those days. Enjoy!

Spicy Italian Sausage Corn Soup

1 lb spicy Italian sausage
3-4 Tbs. olive oil
1 red pepper, chopped
1 orange pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 poblano pepper, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
3-4 clove garlic, crushed
5 potatoes, diced
1/2 c cilantro, minced
14.5 oz. can  diced tomatoes w/juice
14.5 oz. can cream corn
29 oz. can whole corn kernels, drained
2 c. milk or heavy whipping cream
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 c. colby jack cheese, shredded
32 oz. chicken broth
3 Tbs. chili powder
3 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. ground red pepper
1 tsp. black pepper

Get your crock pot ready to go! Brown Italian sausage and place in the crock pot. In large skillet, add olive oil, garlic, chopped peppers and onions.  Saute for about 5 minutes, move veggies to the crock pot.  From there add diced potatoes, minced cilantro, tomatoes, and corns.  In a small sauce pan, bring the milk to a boil, reduce heat and add in cheese.  Stir cheese and milk until cheese is completely melted, add to the crock pot.  Add remaining ingredients to the crock pot, broth and spices, and stir until well blended.  Set crock pot on low and cook for 4-5 hours or until potatoes are tender. I paired the soup with a grilled and ham and cheese sandwich.

Banana Monster Cookies

2 c. oats, pureed
1 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. butter, soften
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 c. peanut butter
3/4 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
3/4 c. butterscotch chips
3/4 c. raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium bowl mix together pureed oats, flour and baking soda.  Set a side. In an electric mixer or with a hand held mixture, mix butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.  Next add eggs until well incorporated and then add honey and vanilla. Once this is well mixed add in the bananas and then the peanut butter.  Slowly add in oat mixture until well blended.  With a wooden spoon add in chips and raisins.  I made big cookies with this recipe, so I took a 1/4 measuring cup and scooped out 5 cookie balls per baking sheet and then baked then for 13-15 minutes.  Remove from baking sheets and let cool or a wire rack.

Oat Mixture

Butter, I beat mine before adding sugar

After sugar is added

Batter w/ eggs, vanilla, honey, bananas, and peanut butter

Batter w/ oat mixture, chips and raisins

Large dollops of cookie dough

My daughter being a ham and helping out.

Enjoying the cookies, as you can see it was almost gone.  

It didn't last long.